UNITED STATES CODE

TITLE 18 - CRIMES AND CRIMINAL PROCEDURE

PART II - CRIMINAL PROCEDURE

CHAPTER 205 - SEARCHES AND SEIZURES

§ 3117. Mobile tracking devices

(a) In General. - If a court is empowered to issue a warrant or other
order for the installation of a mobile tracking device, such order may
authorize the use of that device within the jurisdiction of the court, and
outside that jurisdiction if the device is installed in that jurisdiction.

(b) Definition. - As used in this section, the term ''tracking device''
means an electronic or mechanical device which permits the tracking of the
movement of a person or object.

(a) In General. - Except as provided in this section, no person
may install or use a pen register or a trap and trace device without
first obtaining a court order under section 3123 of this title or under
the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act of 1978 (50 U.S.C. 1801 et
seq.).

(b) Exception. - The prohibition of subsection (a) does not apply with
respect to the use of a pen register or a trap and trace device by a provider
of electronic or wire communication service -

(1) relating to the operation, maintenance, and testing of a wire or
electronic communication service or to the protection of the rights or
property of such provider, or to the protection of users of that service from
abuse of service or unlawful use of service; or

(2) to record the fact that a wire or electronic communication was
initiated or completed in order to protect such provider, another provider
furnishing service toward the completion of the wire communication, or a user
of that service, from fraudulent, unlawful or abusive use of service; or (3)
where the consent of the user of that service has been obtained.

(c) Penalty. - Whoever knowingly violates subsection (a) shall be fined
under this title or imprisoned not more than one year, or both.

§ 3122. Application for an order for a pen register or a trap and
trace device

(a) Application. - (1) An attorney for the Government may make
application for an order or an extension of an order under section 3123 of this title authorizing or approving the
installation and use of a pen register or a trap and trace device under this
chapter, in writing under oath or equivalent affirmation, to a court of
competent jurisdiction.

(2) Unless prohibited by State law, a State investigative or law
enforcement officer may make application for an order or an extension of an
order under section 3123 of this title
authorizing or approving the installation and use of a pen register or a trap
and trace device under this chapter, in writing under oath or equivalent
affirmation, to a court of competent jurisdiction of such State.

(b) Contents of Application. - An application under subsection (a) of
this section shall include -

(1) the identity of the attorney for the Government or the State law
enforcement or investigative officer making the application and the identity
of the law enforcement agency conducting the investigation; and

(2) a certification by the applicant that the information likely to be
obtained is relevant to an ongoing criminal investigation being conducted by
that agency.

§ 3123. Issuance of an order for a pen register or a trap and trace
device

(a) In General. - Upon an application made under section 3122 of this title, the court shall enter an ex
parte order authorizing the installation and use of a pen register or a trap
and trace device within the jurisdiction of the court if the court finds that
the attorney for the Government or the State law enforcement or investigative
officer has certified to the court that the information likely to be obtained
by such installation and use is relevant to an ongoing criminal investigation.

(b) Contents of Order. - An order issued under this section -

(1) shall specify -

(A) the identity, if known, of the person to whom is leased or in whose
name is listed the telephone line to which the pen register or trap and trace
device is to be attached;

(B) the identity, if known, of the person who is the subject of the
criminal investigation;

(C) the number and, if known, physical location of the telephone line to
which the pen register or trap and trace device is to be attached and, in the
case of a trap and trace device, the geographic limits of the trap and trace
order; and

(D) a statement of the offense to which the information likely to be
obtained by the pen register or trap and trace device relates; and

(2) shall direct, upon the request of the applicant, the furnishing of
information, facilities, and technical assistance necessary to accomplish the
installation of the pen register or trap and trace device under section 3124 of this title.

(c) Time Period and Extensions. - (1) An order issued under this section
shall authorize the installation and use of a pen register or a trap and trace
device for a period not to exceed sixty days.

(2) Extensions of such an order may be granted, but only upon an
application for an order under section 3122 of
this title and upon the judicial finding required by subsection (a) of this
section. The period of extension shall be for a period not to exceed sixty
days.

(d) Nondisclosure of Existence of Pen Register or a Trap and Trace
Device. - An order authorizing or approving the installation and use of a pen
register or a trap and trace device shall direct that -

(1) the order be sealed until otherwise ordered by the court; and

(2) the person owning or leasing the line to which the pen register or a
trap and trace device is attached, or who has been ordered by the court to
provide assistance to the applicant, not disclose the existence of the pen
register or trap and trace device or the existence of the investigation to the
listed subscriber, or to any other person, unless or until otherwise ordered
by the court.

§ 3125. Emergency pen register and trap and trace device
installation

(a) Notwithstanding any other provision of this chapter, any
investigative or law enforcement officer, specially designated by the Attorney
General, the Deputy Attorney General, the Associate Attorney General, any
Assistant Attorney General, any acting Assistant Attorney General, or any
Deputy Assistant Attorney General, or by the principal prosecuting attorney of
any State or subdivision thereof acting pursuant to a statute of that State,
who reasonably determines that -

(1) an emergency situation exists that involves -

(A) immediate danger of death or serious bodily injury to any person; or

(B) conspiratorial activities characteristic of organized crime, that
requires the installation and use of a pen register or a trap and trace device
before an order authorizing such installation and use can, with due diligence,
be obtained, and

(2) there are grounds upon which an order could be entered under this
chapter to authorize such installation and use '' (FOOTNOTE 1) may have
installed and use a pen register or trap and trace device if, within
forty-eight hours after the installation has occurred, or begins to occur, an
order approving the installation or use is issued in accordance with section
3123 of this title.'' (FOOTNOTE 1)

(FOOTNOTE 1) So in original. A comma probably should appear after the word
''use'', the quotation marks probably should not appear, and the words
beginning with ''may'' probably should appear flush left.

(b) In the absence of an authorizing order, such use shall immediately
terminate when the information sought is obtained, when the application for
the order is denied or when forty-eight hours have lapsed since the
installation of the pen register or trap and trace device, whichever is
earlier.

(c) The knowing installation or use by any investigative or law
enforcement officer of a pen register or trap and trace device pursuant to
subsection (a) without application for the authorizing order within
forty-eight hours of the installation shall constitute a violation of this
chapter.

(d) A provider for a wire or electronic service, landlord, custodian, or
other person who furnished facilities or technical assistance pursuant to this
section shall be reasonably compensated for such reasonable expenses incurred
in providing such facilities and assistance.

§ 3126. Reports concerning pen registers and trap and trace
devices

The Attorney General shall annually report to Congress on the number of pen
register orders and orders for trap and trace devices applied for by law
enforcement agencies of the Department of Justice.

§ 3127. Definitions for chapter

As used in this chapter -

(1) the terms ''wire communication'', ''electronic communication'', and
''electronic communication service'' have the meanings set forth for such
terms in section 2510 of this title;

(2) the term ''court of competent jurisdiction'' means -

(A) a district court of the United States (including a magistrate of
such a court) or a United States Court of Appeals; or

(B) a court of general criminal jurisdiction of a State authorized by
the law of that State to enter orders authorizing the use of a pen register or
a trap and trace device;

(3) the term ''pen register'' means a device which records or decodes
electronic or other impulses which identify the numbers dialed or otherwise
transmitted on the telephone line to which such device is attached, but such
term does not include any device used by a provider or customer of a wire or
electronic communication service for billing, or recording as an incident to
billing, for communications services provided by such provider or any device
used by a provider or customer of a wire communication service for cost
accounting or other like purposes in the ordinary course of its business;

(4) the term ''trap and trace device'' means a device which captures the
incoming electronic or other impulses which identify the originating number of
an instrument or device from which a wire or electronic communication was
transmitted;

(5) the term ''attorney for the Government'' has the meaning given such
term for the purposes of the Federal Rules of Criminal Procedure; and

(6) the term ''State'' means a State, the District of Columbia, Puerto
Rico, and any other possession or territory of the United States.